The evening world., 1887-12-05

all, Tor time must DO
given before one is expert enough to and
the delicate feathery articles.
From lower Broadway away up to Seven
teenth street may be found hundreds of
stores where handsome, glossy feathers are
exposed for sale. In them are employed
twenty times he number of pretty girls,
whose occupation, from 7 or 8 o'clock in the
morning till long past 8 in the evening, Is TO
smooth and curl and steam the ruffied wings
Of the feathered tribe, brought from all parts
of the world, and in all shades, sizes and
conditions.
The primary object In steaming feathers is
to Timber the quilts and lay the ruffied, tiny
feathers that are the components Of not only
the completed bonnett but of the price itself.
And, indeed, the husband who would be 80
cruel as to refuse his wife such q love of O
thing as is made out of these varicolored
articles doesn't deserve to have q wife.
Steaming feathers seems simple enough.
just hold them over the steam" But the
novice. would get his fingers burned and
burned again in the attempt, and t~hen-well,
then, the feather would be worth throwing
away. The old.fashioned way Of doing the
work, which is still in vogue in the smaller
stores, isto fill an ordinary tin kettle, hay
| ing an extra long and straight nozzle, with
water, and then heat It. When the boiling
point is reached and the steam issues forth
feather is held in the steam, and with the
d~isengaged hand the girl smooths the OBJ
stinate particles until they shine as brightly
as the eye of the worker. This is all the
work there is to II. Still, it is a long, tedious
as the hands. But If Sh~akespeare's right,
| that " laughter lightens labor" then, in
! deed, theirs is the lightest labor in the
world, for, from morning until night, about
In and out amidst the gold and yellow, the
scarlet, blue and black, there is nothing but
laughter,
In addition to being steamed the feathers
are dyed, curled and finally prepared for the
m%illiner, after being glued to the regulation
| wire pin, much after the fashion of the
| flower from the florist. Dyeing a feather is
like dyeing anything else, save perhaps that
it costs more, because there is so little of IT.
The curling is done over a hot fire, deft
fingers again playing a prominent part in
shaping the twists and turns till they repre-
sent, so husbands will claim, about $5 q
twist. Then the wing feathers are attached
to the wire pins or handles by means of
paste and a heavy. thick strip of cloth, and
then the goods are ready for the market.
Just how long it takes to steam and pre-
pare each feather is a question that even
skilled workwomen cannot answer; Their in
tuition and knowledge of the article is o help
in determining, but some feathers are Just as
obstinate about getting steamed and pol
ished as their original owners were about
getting caught, and they will not down: But
slender fingers finally coax the hayward tips
and then the work is finished.
OF course in the larger houses the method
of doing this work is much simpler, though
probably no continuance has yet been de-
vised for supplanting the girls and their def
work with machinery. Indeed, it is doubt.
full if there could be q machine invented to
80 thoroughly get at the little details with
which the work abounds, and this may be
the cause of the girls constant good nature.
Still, as the subject is a light one perhaps il
would be just as well not to drag machinery
into IL